Tips for a Successful Job Search

By Amy Dinning –
a training and development professional, along with participants in her
“Jump Start Your Job Search” events.

As regular readers of “Your Career Advocate” know, I sometimes feature the writing of others in this space. I thought this piece by Amy Dinning would be an ideal selection, because many clients have recently been asking, “What, exactly, should I be doing to maximize my job search efforts?” Amy has offered so many excellent strategies, that we needed to divide her article into two parts. Below, please see Part Two of “Tips for a Successful Job Search.”
– Ford R. Myers

• Create and utilize a career transition binder
• Have a “Personal Board of Directors”
• Create a networking newsletter to e-mail quarterly, if not more often
• Attend different networking meetings and events, and continually add new ones to your schedule
• Treat every event you go to or participate in as networking
• Create a Linked-In profile – ask people to submit recommendations for your work; answer questions; update your status
• Compile and continually update a Target Company List
• Give-out business cards to everyone with whom you network – Vistaprint.com is a good source
• Set networking goals each week, and track your progress on a worksheet
• Sign-up to receive the daily digest of national and local business publications
• Take time off to refresh and do things you enjoy
• Celebrate your successes
• Write and use a Professional Biography when networking instead of a Resume
• Compile, use and continually update a comprehensive Contacts Database
• Create and use a Networking Agenda for your one-on-one meetings
• Consider up-skilling or re-skilling yourself through further education and training
• Write Accomplishment Stories that you can use during an interview – the work-related events about which you feel most proud
• Make networking telephone calls – constantly
• Ask people to meet for coffee, breakfast or lunch to network
• Join and get very active in professional organizations
• Volunteer your time with organizations dependent on volunteers
• Write and publish articles
• Offer to speak to a group, and do presentations
• Develop a list of Professional References to give after an interview, and prepare the people on the list so they know they might be contacted
• Spend at least 85% of your job-search time networking
• Pass it on – create a distribution list of people you know who are in transition and send them helpful information
• Join a job search support group for information, contacts and support
• Shadow someone in the field in which you are interested
• Volunteer at companies in which you are interested
• Work a full 40 hours per week (or more) to find the job you want, but give yourself time off as well
• Contact vendors with whom you have worked, as a part of your network
• Ask someone to hold you accountable for your job search goals
• Build relationships with Human Resource professionals
• Maintain a positive attitude – it shows!
• Stand-up and smile when you are on a phone interview
• Try not to take rejection personally
• Don’t turn-down interviews – accept them for practice and possible other positions if you aren’t interested in that particular one
• Do your research and practice before you go to an interview
• Use the local library as a vital resource
• Attend conferences in your field or another industry in which you are interested – ask if you can volunteer, and you might get free or discounted registration
• Stay connected to others – it’s very important not to isolate yourself
• Looking for a job can be a fairly long process – so keep adding new contacts, staying in touch with old contacts, applying for positions, moving the process forward – and you will get results!

Be sure to read Part Two of “Tips for a Successful Job Search”!